Onwards
by PlatinumViola
Summary: Slightly AU. Set in between DJGBC and OGSY. Zach's school is not for assassins. Cammie gets to visit Zach's spy school - finally. And who has she got along with her? Bex and Macey of course.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, fanfic readers. I wrote this before I read Only the Good Spy Young, so Zach's spy school is basically just a boy version of Gallagher Academy. Excuse that. **

**Hope you enjoy!**

Okay, so I was psyched. I mean, Zach had come into my school; and now, after say, two years of hoping for a chance into his school, I had it. Well, 10 girls in the whole world did, my class in Covert Operations, but _I _had it. I remembered when I had asked where this Blackthorne Institute for Boys even existed, but Zach had looked at me in his cocky way and said, "Oh. That's classified."

Unfair? Definitely. But now the deal was even, because the Gallagher Girls were going to crash the boys' school for a whole semester. And as Bex and Macey and I loaded our baggage into the back of the white limo, I couldn't help but notice the pretty blonde holding a textbook.

"Liz."

She looked up, and I noticed she had the faintest trace of tears on her flushed face. "Is this it, Cam?"

I remembered how Liz had done so much for me, for us, and I was miserable that she couldn't join us on this adventure.

"Hey," Macey interrupted. "You're great, Liz. It's not your fault you're not in CoveOps. But you're going to be part of this, we'll hack the servers everyday and email you."

Liz smiled. "Good luck. I hear Blackthorne is surrounded by layers of firewall."

"Oh, but we've learned stuff from you. It'll take, 45 minutes?" Bex called from the limo's trunk.

I hugged Liz. Hard. She was brilliant, and we'd ran it by my mother over and over, but rules were rules. Only the CoveOps class would be making the exchange, and Liz was stuck by herself for a whole year. And as the driver ushered my two friends into the back, we waved to Liz all the way down Gallagher's long driveway. She was teary, I was teary, Bex was teary, and even Macey's eyeliner was threatened to smudge. Yeah, _Macey_.

The trip was long. Heck, it was really long. But not even Bex caught a wink of sleep because we all wanted to see where we were going. Luckily, the long ride gave me lots of time to think. And I had a lot to think about.

Macey interrupted my thoughts. "Thinking about Zach?"

_How did she know that?_ Note to self: be more covert when thinking about really hot guys!

"Yeah," I said hesitantly. "Last time I asked him about his Blackthorne, he said that I wouldn't want to sleep within its walls. And I think he was being honest."

Bex rolled her eyes. "Serious, Cam? I bet the only reason was that, well, it's a _boys school_. Remember the craze with Tina and Eva? I can only imagine the guys right now."

Macey smirked. "Probably trying to grow their hair out really fast. And it's not working."

"Dr. Fibs made that HairAlive thing last summer; hair grows an inch in a half hour," I said. "But they don't have Dr. Fibs."

"Soft, touchable hair," Bex sighed. "I _wish_ they had Dr. Fibs."

"I hope the guys who were left behind in last year's exchange are better looking than the ones who did," Macey rolled her big, blue eyes.

"Hey," I said. "How is it with Preston?"

I felt Macey's mental shields go up.

"You don't have to lie, Macey," I muttered. "It's me, Cammie."

She smiled. "Oh, yeah. He's hot. He's been trying to see a lot of me, but…" she shrugged. "I'm not that easy to get."

"Not fair," Bex whined from her side of the limo. And if you know Bex, she _wasn't _a whiner. I figured it was probably due to our general lack of sleep for the past… three days? Four? "Macey gets Preston. Cammie has Zach. Who do I get?"

"The whole school body is a mob of teen masculinity," Macey said matter-of-factly.

"More than half will go after you," I added.

Bex rolled her eyes. "That is, if not all go after Macey."

"Ladies?" our driver spoke from the front. "We're arriving in ten minutes."

I whipped my head to look out the windows. "New York?" I said under my breath.

But Bex and Macey heard. Gallagher Girls were born to hear. And together they said, "Blackthorne Boys are New Yorkers."

I dropped my gaze to a tracker watch Liz had given me before we left. And I saw something horrible. The bad thing was, it was my own reflection.

I turned to Macey, horrified. "Why did you not tell me I look like garbage?"

She shrugged. "Because it doesn't matter?"

"Oh, please." I said. "I have been stuck in a vehicle for a car trip, not slept for three days, and am surviving on my mom's chocolate chip cookies for the whole day." (If you know anything about my mom's cooking, you'd be worrying about my overall health.) I glanced up at the sun, which was ironic since I had a watch on my wrist, and said, "It's around 5 minutes past 4 in the afternoon." I took a breath. "I'm going to see Zach in ten minutes," I hissed.

But Macey, being the cosmetics heiress she was, was already dumping wide assortments of make-up onto her lap. Bex was pretending not to listen. Macey squinted at all the shiny, glamorous kit-things on her lap. Then glanced at my face. "Easy, it'll take me five minutes." She got to work immediately.

Once, she pulled out a brush that looked like it was for eyeshadow, and she shook it. The brush part popped off and tiny adhesive patches slipped out. "Whoops. Napotine patches to knock out for a half hour." She threw it back into her purse. "Good pocket litter."

She finished as she said, in five minutes. Bex flung her arm towards us. "There it is!"

Sure enough, a large mansion stood in front of us. However, there were no manicured grounds. Just a short, simple driveway, which, nonetheless, I was convinced was just as heavily covered in security protocol as ours was.

Macey leaned forward to our driver. "This is the Blackthorne Institute, sir?"

"Yes," he replied simply. "And no."

He didn't wait for us to voice the question. "The Institute is underneath, misses."

"And that mansion is.." I trailed.

"Cover," he said.

To that, we couldn't say anything more. We got out, and he helped us with our baggage.

"They said guides would be waiting for you. I'm sure they'll be here shortly." With that nice sentiment, he got in, and promptly left.

Macey's eyebrows were still raised higher than they were normally, and I knew it wasn't a plucking mistake. "When are the others arriving again?"

Bex shrugged. "We're supposed to arrive separately in threes, half an hour apart so it's not suspicious. I guess, the next group would be in half an hour."

"So, I guess we can wait right here for the guides," I replied and sat on a wooden bench near the two double-doors.

Macey and Bex didn't sit.

"Oh, what would be the fun in that, Cam?" Macey smiled.

"We're Gallagher Girls. I'm sure we can't get lost." Bex said, in a tone I'd come to know…. And fear.

**Reviews are greatly appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys! Thanks for the great reviews/story alerts/author alerts/favourites! I appreciate them so much! I'm glad you enjoy reading my fics as much as I enjoy writing them :)**

I looked at the two of them, and desperately wanted to keep my promise to my mom to stay out of trouble. I tried again. "Yeah," I quipped, "but this is like our school, Bex. If we make a mistake we'll set off trip wires or alarms or send SWAT teams coming in."

She pulled me to my feet, and I knew the argument was over. "Jeez, Cam. If we sit there like a bunch of babies, how are the guys going to respect us? They'll think we're just as weak and stupid as if we didn't receive any at all of the world's best training."

I glanced at one of my best friends. She had gone through just as much as I had that day, and it hadn't done any unfortunate things to her appearance at all. She was born a spy, and by far the only one I knew who'd dare to travel into rival territory in three-inch stilettos.

We walked into the mansion's lobby/foyer. Surprisingly, it was empty. We wandered upstairs and downstairs, and found a lot of nicely-furnished suites, but still, nobody.

Macey wandered to the counters of the lobby when we realized we had come full-circle. "There's a note," she said with excitement in her voice.

"_You get places by using the elevator. It goes up, and it goes down."_ Bex translated from Urdu.

"Gee," Macey said. "I didn't know that before."

"It means we get there by using the elevator," I said, even though it was pretty clear already.

Macey shrugged, and we walked to the elevators to the right of the counter. The one closest to us clicked open when I pressed the down button, and we stepped in.

We were all pretty tense, because I had a feeling in my gut that this was a trap. And that was number one Mr. Solomon had taught us: 90% instinct. 10% knowledge.

Bex pushed the floor G, since it was the only level below the lobby. When the doors opened, we were generally ready for what came next: we were charged. It wasn't even that bad. There were three guys, so we each took one. Bex brought one down with a powerful kick at his legs, and held him down. Macey's threw her attacker in a judo move, and put her sharp heel on his throat as she dug in her purse. I knocked mine out with a punch, and yelled, "Macey, Napotine patches!"

Macey's eyes rolled and she said, "Duh."

The dude at her heel groaned. I couldn't help but feel bad. Macey was wearing very thin heels, even though they were only two inches. It still would've hurt. She found the right makeup brush and threw us mini Napotine patches. As soon as I slapped mine on the man's forehead, Bex yelled, "Heads!"

I saw another three guys running toward us, but they weren't burly like the first group. They looked, our age. And the one heading directly toward me, was a face I'd come to recognize very well.

"Zach?"

However, these boys didn't seem interested in knocking us out. The first reached Bex, and employed a very odd… _move._ He _kissed her_. And kept kissing her. A split-second later the other hit Macey and started uh, doing the same thing. But I barely caught what was happening until I realized Zach was still running toward me, and yeah, he held my head and put his mouth on mine.

I tried to pull away to ask what the heck was happening, and in the corner of my eye, I saw three guys run at us again. But these were like the first group. I had to tell my friends! I didn't know what kind of tactic it was to distract enemies with _kisses_ but the dudes who were coming wanted to knock us out if they could. I struggled inside for a second. I had been waiting, longing, for Zach to kiss me again. But I knew what the spy in me would do. I kneed Zach in the stomach, which got his mouth off mine.

"Bex! There are guys coming!"

Thankfully, Macey had never been the type to let a guy kiss her that easily, whether or not there were others who wanted to kill her at that moment. She had the guy on the floor in a painful position and muttering a lecture about never doing that again. She slapped a Napotine patch on his forehead and slapped him, _hard._ The slap knocked him out just as well as the patch.

However, it took more than a knee in the stomach to get Zach out of the game. The good thing was, I had sparred with Zach for a year when he was in Roseville, and knowing your opponent brought some serious pros into the picture. The bad thing was, Zach knew me too, so he knew my weaknesses.

"Cam—"

I took advantage of his distraction, and knew that the only way I could bring him down was to do it right now. I threw him onto the floor and pinned his hands behind his back. "Zach, what the heck is going on?"

I unwound my scarf around my neck and slip-knotted his hands. I gagged him with the other end. He'd be able to break the bonds in minutes, but it was still time. I looked over at Bex. She was having no problem. The guy was lying facedown with a Napotine patch on his hand, and she was parrying punches from the burly one who stood before her. I turned, wondering where the third guy who was supposed to be after me was, until I realized that Macey had two guys at her feet with Napotine patches. One had a painful welt on his head, and I could tell she had punched the other in the eye. She was kicking against the third burly man, and I rushed over to help her. Peeling off the adhesive of the final patch I had, I kicked the man from behind and slapped the patch, catching him, by sheer luck, in the centre of his forehead. Macey fell forward and held him down for a few seconds as the sedatives kicked in.

"Bex!" Macey yelled, and threw her a patch from her purse. Bex caught it in midair and put the final struggling man to unconsciousness.

Zach, however, had spat out his gag and I made a mental note to myself that I had to improve my gagging technique. There was no way he got out of it so quickly unless I had done a really bad job of doing it. He was working at the knot with his teeth, but my slipknots are good. I took a small patch from Macey, wondering whether or not I should let the sedatives knock my boyfriend-slash-not-quite-sure-if-he-actually-is out for half an hour.

I decided that I would, until a familiar voice said, "Welcome to Blackthorne, ladies."

Mr. Solomon stepped into the room, seemingly from nowhere.

Bex got up and straightened herself out. Macey kept standing there. I withdrew my hand slowly where it was about to press a patch onto Zach's head. "Nice trap," I said coolly, like the spy I was.

Mr. Solomon nodded. "You don't enter Blackthorne if you're not worthy."

"Wait," Macey interrupted. "What type of trap involves kissing guys?" she said disdainfully, kicking the poor unconscious boy next to her feet.

Our teacher shrugged. "Spies have to work under all kinds of distractions. Even to Gallagher Girls, boys can be…. _Distracting._"

I knew it wasn't about me, and he didn't want to make any remarks about the past. Still, the comment stung, specifically, to me.

Fortunately, Zach broke the silence. "Uh, Mr. Solomon? Can I get extra credit seeing as I'm the only one conscious after this ordeal?"

"We'll see, Zach." Mr. Solomon motioned to us. "Thank you, ladies, for knocking out two members of our student body, and 6 guards."

Bex shrugged. "Sorry."

"Want us to give them antidotes?" I asked.

Our CoveOps teacher shook his head. "No. Cut Zach loose please, and he will serve as your guide. You three girls will room together as it was before."

I undid Zach's knot obediently, and helped him up.

"Impressive, Gallagher Girl," he grinned. I could tell he meant it.

I was also happy that he wasn't upset or anything that I had subdued him, and was going to knock him unconscious.

"Thanks." I muttered.

Mr. Solomon had left us, and Macey, Bex and I followed Zach through a long hallway.

"Welcome to Blackthorne." He said.

"Mmm." Bex replied, busy looking at the doors that lined the hall. "Are these suites?"

Zach turned. "No, they're _classified_."

**Classified, again! Oh, Zach. Reviews are greatly appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi, again! I'm back. Sorry if I'm slow at updating - I tend to be very busy, and am horrible at writing on demand. Nonetheless, I will do my best! I hope you enjoy the latest chapter of Onwards!**

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><p><em>Zach turned. "No, they're classified."<em>

I rolled my eyes. "Zach, we're here. No secrets stay secrets for long."

He shrugged. "Nothing I can do about that. I'm not supposed to tell you. If you figure out on your own, that was beyond me."

"So," Macey said after a few metres. "Aren't you going to hold hands with Cammie? It's rude to leave her behind you like that."

I gave Macey my best Gallagher glare and kicked her hard. Unfortunately, Macey didn't seem to feel any pain at all.

"That's right." Zach said. He stopped next to me and slipped his hand into mine. "I'm sorry, Gallagher Girl."

"We're not even—" I protested.

"Dating?" Zach said, and met my eyes.

"Yeah?" I said, not sure what I was supposed to say.

Zach looked disappointed. "A spy's memory is the best weapon she's got, Gallagher Girl. Don't you remember anything from last year?"

Okay, so yeah, we had that study date that was really me on a honeypotting mission. And we went on that movie date thing that was cut short because I ditched him to ace my CoveOps final. Still, did that count? Part of me wished it did, but the other part was still a little bit sore that he had kissed me this morning not because he wanted to, but to _distract_ me.

"So what was your mission?" I said finally. "To get us killed because we were being kissed?"

"No," he said slowly, "it was all Mr. Solomon's idea. It worked better on the other girls who came, Tina and Eva and Kim. They didn't realize three guys were coming because they were busy savoring kisses."

"You were kissing Gallagher Girls all morning as we arrived?" I said, outraged. I was never supposed to have hard feelings against my sisterhood, but I couldn't help but feel upset that his mouth had been on two others in my CoveOps class.

"Easy, Gallagher Girl." I could tell he was amused that I was jealous. "And the answer is no. Three different guys came each time. Besides, all were knocked out. You think they could come to, and be ready for another round of Gallagher Girls in the span of half an hour?"

"Oh." I said, feeling a little bit dumb.

"Stop flirting, you two," Macey said. I kicked her again.

"What?" she said, her blue eyes feigning innocence. "I thought this was a school tour."

We followed Zach along as he showed us these classrooms, and these halls, and I was impressed at how modern Blackthorne looked. Gallagher was more old-style mansion type, unless you counted Sublevels One, Two and Three. Blackthorne was completely, way deep underground and sleek with frosted glass, chrome, and stainless steel everywhere. A big change from my school's oak-paneled halls.

"What subjects do we take?" Bex asked as we passed a long hallway with only two doors on each side.

"You get your schedule later at dinner," Zach replied. "It's the same idea though," he said. "Most of the subjects are the same. They just teach us another _language_, if you can put it that way."

"What do you mean?" Bex said, turning to him.

I could only agree with her. We knew fourteen languages already. They knew fifteen?

"It's called Mind-Reading and Body Language. They focus more on the cryptic things girls say and how to interpret them."

"Excuse me," Bex quipped. "Why don't they teach us that at Gallagher?"

"You're not serious, right?" I asked.

"I am serious," he said. "Girls are confusing, and hardly ever make sense. We're barely exposed to them, so somebody has to teach us how to understand what half of the world speaks."

Zach was a very good operative, but I don't know how much of a chance he stood with three girls simmering in what he said. Bex was going to breathe fire any moment.

"Well, boys are indecipherable!" I retorted. "Give me a KGB code any day! We have to rack our brains trying to understand what you mean every time, while you get a course on how to do it?"

Zach smiled. "I know I'm hard to understand. It just means that girls are harder to understand; that's why we need a course."

"Or that girls simply have higher IQ and can figure it out anyway," Macey replied.

He shrugged. "Debatable." I knew he was having fun, so I decided not to let him enjoy it.

"So what are they going to teach us in that class?" I asked. "We already know how to understand what we say."

"Don't know."

I stared at him from the side, wondering how someone so hot could become so annoying in less than a minute. I decided I would have to get Liz to write up a chart and run some experiments. We could find out the least amount of time this particular feat could be achieved.

"We'd like to welcome the Gallagher Academy's Covert Operations class for this whole semester." I heard a man's amplified voice echo into the room where we were supposed to wait.

The doors swung open, and we faced a whole hall of boys in Blackthorne uniforms, staring at us in very different ways, as if they didn't know what to make of it all. We walked in and took seats at a table reserved for us, and sat quietly. I tugged angrily at the Blackthorne uniform that we had been outfitted in. Clearly, Blackthorne was accustomed to making uniforms for boys and not girls because the proportions were comical.

They had made the solid black, pleated skirt entirely too short for a girl expected to pass P&E while wearing it, the sleeves of the white blouse were _puffed_. Yes, puffed. Puffy short sleeves and black vests that looked like they were meant to be worn with tuxedoes and not puffy white shirts and black skirts. Blackthorne Institute was emblazoned on the crest of my vest in white and gold.

Even Macey looked awkward wearing it, and I couldn't help but whine inwardly whether or not we were to wear these uniforms for the whole year.

Their headmaster went on about effective collaborative benefits about having us, and when he mentioned how "becoming" the new uniforms looked on us, all he got were very forced, polite smiles from our table.

Finally, teachers began handing out schedules after the final announcement about having a Welcome Ball finished.

"Welcome Ball?" Bex nudged my elbow.

"Probably same idea from last year," I replied. "I guess they would say it's _tradition_."

I looked at my schedule, and found that they were the exact same courses I had selected last year, when I was still expecting to stay at Gallagher Academy. I faintly remembered Zach laughing at C&A, and thought it ironic that his school offered the course too.

"Hey, Gallagher Girl." A voice whispered into my ear. "Hey Bex, hey Macey…." And so Zach went saying "Hey," to every girl that had come.

He smiled and showed me his schedule. "Let's compare classes."

I glanced at his, and noted that we had the exact same, except for the fact that he was taking History of Espionage Level 2, and I was taking my first.

"I guess we'll be seeing each other often, then," I said smiling.

"Oh my gosh! Sorry!" Bex said, alarmed.

I turned to see that she had spilled her glass of water and my schedule (printed on Evapopaper!) was dissolving very quickly.

"It's okay," I said, plopping my napkin into Lake Erie on the table. "I had it memorized anyway."

I turned to Zach again, but he was already gone.

"Hold still, Cammie," Macey said in a tone of voice that made me obey.

She was trying to get the right "effect," with my makeup and I was trying to relay my snooping around objectives to Bex. The 'Welcome Ball' was tonight, and the girls' halls were silent, seeing as everyone was in their rooms in front of a mirror. I had been busy the past week we had been here, and I found that Blackthorne had a lot of fun ductwork much like Gallagher. I was super excited to tell Bex just how many covert ways there were to get into the main hall alone.

I hadn't packed the red, strapless dress I had worn last year when Gallagher was the one holding the ball, but Macey had been followed by seven large baggage pieces that held five dress-slash-gown pieces that I could borrow in addition to a wide assortment of stylish designer clothing.

Bex wore a dark purple halter dress that looked like it was made of chiffon. She was independently finishing her makeup, and her skin was glowing in the dim light of a single lamp we had turned on in the corner of the room.

Macey had forced me into my own halter dress that was blue, but it was shorter than Bex's and came just to my knees. She was giving me a lecture about my climbing through ductwork, that I will admit, _did_ create some not-so-attractive bruises on my shins. She was slapping cover-up on it very effectively, and I racked my brain of the notes I had taken in all my classes the past week. There was no telling when teachers would pull tests on you.

When Macey declared me "presentable," I glanced at the mirror and had to look back again. Presentable? I looked amazing. Was I going to dance with Zach? Duh, I wanted to. I turned to Macey.

"Can I wear shoes I can walk in this time?" I pleaded with her.

She pressed her lips together and shook her head. "These will look awesome with that dress."

I closed my eyes and wished that the shoes she had just tossed at me were flat and toe-comfy, but no, they were the same blue as my dress, and they were three-inches tall.

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><p><strong>Oh, Macey and her heels. Reviews are greatly appreciated! :)<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the delay, everyone. This chapter is a tad shorter, but I hope you guys won't notice anyway. **

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><p>The staircase that led down into the ballroom was long and twirly, which I wouldn't have minded all that much if I could slide down the banister. The thing that bugged me the most was that, like most of the Institute, it was made of glass. No, I wasn't concerned about it cracking or anything, because a certain incident with glass rope, <em>yes that's glass rope<em>, taught me to trust CIA manufactured glass. The thing is, glass is see-through, and I could see the party in swing from in between my skinny heels. But that also meant that they could see me, and I was wearing a dress.

Even Bex stared uncertainly at the flooring. Macey looked around for teachers, and I could tell we were all thinking the same thing.

We could cross our legs, slide down the glass banister, and be done with walking on glass floors. Bex leaped gracefully onto the banister and slid quickly down. She wasn't past the halfway mark before Macey followed in her own fuchsia dress. I wasn't going to be left. I sat on the railing and was off myself. I looked at the party, which was more than half boys in tuxedoes and wondered for a second how I would find Zach. The distraction was long enough for me to turn and realize that I was almost to the end of the banister.

However, as his talent seems to display, Zach had a knack for finding me. I was prepared to fly momentarily off the end and land on my feet, but what happened was entirely different. Just as my butt left the banister, a boy stood right in front of where I was heading. Before I could cry out for him to move, he caught me.

"Interesting means of transportation, Gallagher Girl."

"Zach," I said, relieved that I hadn't just flown into the arms of a random Blackthorne boy.

"That's me," he said. "You're lucky that was me, and not anybody else, because knocking a brother off his feet at a formal evening party is seriously frowned upon."

"Yeah, well," I said as he set me down on my feet, "I'm wearing a dress, and the glass is see-through. Hello, everyone just needs to glance up to see _way_ too much of me."

He smiled at me like I was being flirty. Which I totally wasn't. Okay, maybe I was a little bit.

"You look good," he said.

Normally, I would've kept my mouth shut and focused on keeping a blush from rising on my cheeks. But I did what the boy in front of me would've done, I was cocky.

"I know." I replied.

He raised his eyebrows. "That's not the Cammie I know."

I smiled back. "Well, up until now, I'm still not sure which Zachary Goode _I _know. You're hard to crack…. I still haven't figured out which is real and which is legend."

"The Gallagher Academy doesn't admit anything less than geniuses," he replied. "That's why I'm being hard on you."

"Oh, come on," I said. "So I have to figure it out myself?"

He grinned. "Of course. It makes everything more fun." He offered me his hand and bowed. "May I have this dance?"

Zach spun me out slowly as our second dance ended.

"I forbid you to dip me, Zach!" I cried. But it was too late. The world turned upside-down, and I felt Zach's breath on my neck.

When he pulled me back up, his face looked cocky.

"Let's get something to drink," he said, taking my hand.

I realized I was hungry. I took a mini crumpet off of a passing tray, checked for sedatives, then put it in my mouth. "Who's your chef?" I asked.

Zach shrugged. "This guy."

"Duh."

"I don't know," he said. "But he makes good food."

"Better than our chef?"

"Almost."

I adjusted the super tiny comms unit Liz had given the three of us before we left. Bex had decided we should wear them so we could track each other at the party. Bex and Macey had been discussing effective ways to judo throw a particularly muscular boy with only one hand in my ear.

"Earth to Cam," Macey's voice was crystal clear.

I turned my head away from Zach so it looked like something had caught my eye and whispered, "Yeah?"

"The Subject looks really hot."

"Where are you and Bex?"

"You're heading toward us, dummy."

I turned my head to where Zach was leading me and saw Bex and Macey, each with a party glass filled with brilliant blue punch. They were smiling knowingly at me.

"Hiya, Bex. Macey." Zach nodded at two of my best friends.

Macey raised her eyebrows in recognition, and Bex simply said, "Hi."

"How are you two girls enjoying the party?" he asked.

"It's lovely," Bex said raising her glass, as if proposing a toast. "Blackthorne boys are hot, I'll admit."

Zach grinned. "They're patterned after me. I'm the model student."

I kicked his shin.

"You see how my date treats me?" he said, pretending to be exasperated. "She doesn't know how much these things hurt."

The corner of Macey's mouth lifted into a tiny smile.

I kicked his shin again.

"Why, Bex," Zach said. "Are you looking for a boy?"

"Maybe," she admitted.

"I've got so many friends!" he said, spreading his arms out as if to embrace the whole building. "You've got your pick."

"Speaking of which," I said, deciding to use my mouth and stop employing my foot to talk for me, "I have never met. I'd love to meet your friends, Zach."

Bex placed her glass on a passing tray. "And if she's going, I'm coming."

Macey, not about to be left behind, followed.

To my surprise, Zach led us to a guy really close by, who was whirling Eva around to the music.

"Hey, Jason."

'Jason' turned and smiled.

"Hi, Zach." His eyes took in the three of us. "You've picked up some girls really quickly."

Zach laughed. "They follow me around, you know? I'm a pavement artist, but I can't get rid of them." Zach turned. "This is Cameron, Rebecca, Macey." He gestured toward his friend. "He's Jason."

Jason winked at us, which I noticed, Eva was a little bit unhappy about.

Bex nodded, looking cooler than I would've managed. "Call me Bex."

"I'm known as Cammie," I put in.

"Nice to meet you," Jason replied.

As we continued following Zach through the mob of dancing, I noticed that Jason caught Bex's eye and winked. I pretended not to notice.

We approached a group of guys, who were purely socializing, each with a glass of punch.

"Hey, guys," Zach broke in. "Meet Bex, Macey, Cam."

The circle parted into a semicircle as the boys took us in.

"Hey," one of the boys said. I realized I recognized him from last year. "Nice to see you again."

They went around the circle saying their names. A regular girl would've lost track, but we were Gallagher Girls. We remembered everything. There was Yale, Evan, Cade, Michael, Spencer and Carter.

I kept in mind that Spencer was hot, and he would look really cute next to Bex. I also swear Evan blew a kiss at Macey before we left.

"Who do you fancy?" Zach whispered to Bex as we made our way aimlessly in the ballroom.

"That," Bex threw him a look, "Is none of your business yet, Zach."

We eventually parted; Zach went to go ask Mr. Solomon about his extra credit, and Macey was forced to foxtrot with a cute Blackthorne boy. I wouldn't be complaining like she was.

Bex and I walked slowly in silence.

"I hate this shoe," I finally said.

Bex shrugged. She was so pretty; she could catch any one of the boys who had no place to go until the party ended. Still, she wasn't always glowing with confidence and spunk like Macey was.

"So," I drew out the word. "Like anybody?"

Bex tilted her head like she didn't know what to say. "Yale's cute. Evan isn't so much. Cade is okay. Michael and Spencer are almost Mr. Solomon hot. Carter is not cute and he is not that hot. Jason is.

The words were like gunfire. They shot out, sentence by sentence.

"Bex," I said, "You can make any guy in this room fall for you by the end of this party. Why don't you try?"

She grinned. "You know, that sounds like fun. Maybe I will."

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><p><strong>Bex catching a guy... I'm not sure whether I'd like to shut my eyes or get ready for the excitement. Reviews are greatly appreciated!<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the long wait, everyone. I tried to make this chapter a little longer. Also, here is where more AU comes in. I'd like to ask that you all forget what we find out about Zach in OGSY. Here is me making up his history! **

She left me by the punch bowl, but eventually Yale came by and asked me to dance.

"You know," he said as he spun me out, "you Gallagher Girls are impressive."

"Thank you," I smiled politely. "That's what we like to hear. Of course," I hurried to add, "I really am in disbelief at how difficult and complicated your curriculum is."

"So, it's an all-girls school," he said after a moment, "do you ever socialize with boys?"

"Not really," I said. "We have a few guy teachers, and occasionally we go into town… but that's it."

He nodded. "Did Zach build up a friendship with you guys?"

It took me a few seconds to realize he meant Bex and Macey.

"Yeah," I said. "He was in a lot of our classes, you know? And we were sophomores last year."

"I'm Zach's best friend," he said finally. "At least, if he'll admit that."

"Oh?" I said.

Yale laughed. "We've known each other since we were born, and well, our parents…."

"Both CIA?" I whispered.

"Yes, but," he looked away and I got the feeling he was wondering how much I knew about Zach. "His parents, it didn't happen so great. He lost them both…. In an _accident_."

The back of my eyes stung. "Yeah, it happened with my dad."

"Zach's built up a shield… But, he says a lot about you," he blurted.

My mouth opened, but my voice wasn't working.

"It's just that," he whispered, "he'll kill me if he knew I told you, but Zach's a toughie. He's been through a lot. But inside…. He's still soft, and somewhere, I know he's hurting."

I stared in bewilderment at the boy who still had his arm around my waist as we swayed to the orchestral music in the room. Mozart's Symphony No. 40; but that was the farthest thing from my mind.

Yale gave me a little smile. "Be nice to him, okay?"

I nodded, faintly aware that my mouth was still gaping in a most unbecoming fashion.

I felt Yale's arm release me. "He's looking," Yale said, gesturing with his chin to where Zach stood, which, according to my training, I knew was around 95 feet away.

"Have a good evening," he said, before he disappeared into the crowd.

Zach made his way slowly to where I still stood, which was good because it gave me time to feign normalcy.

"Hello, Zach."

He gazed out onto the dance floor, and took my hand. "Decided that you like him?" His brows furrowed.

"Yeah, why?"

He dropped my hand. "Then it's okay, you can go dance with him."

"No," I said exasperated. I realized that this was the real Zach. The cocky one was legend. At least, most of it was. "You don't have to be jealous, Zach. It was just a dance."

I admired his poker face: nothing showed.

"Oh, please," I said, taking his hand. "You look hot when you're upset; but it doesn't mean I have to like it."

Slowly, he smiled that melting smile of his, and this time I decided it was okay to show (at least a little bit) of how much he melted me.

"Let's take a walk," he said, and guided me out of the big room.

I caught my breath as we stepped into a spacey room that still managed to look cozy.

"Have you been here?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"This is the student lounge. Some of us hang out here to talk after classes."

I nodded.

Zach ran his hand through his hair. "Is there something you want to ask me, Gallagher Girl?"

I was silent.

"Last time you said no, but I knew you were lying."

I opened my mouth. "No, this time I do have something to ask."

He cocked an eyebrow.

"Do you like my dress?"

He rolled his eyes. "You aren't serious, right?"

"Oh, but I am."

"Yeah, I like it," he said and leaned back against the sofa.

I realized I was still standing. I lowered myself to a lounger.

"I've had some time to think," I whispered, "after you ditched me for Mr. Solomon, and I have a guess about which Zachary Goode is legend."

His face was serious. "Take a guess."

I slipped Macey's painful shoes off my feet and folded my legs underneath me. "The real Zach Goode," I said, closing my eyes, "is sweet and flirty, way more intelligent than he wants to let on, and deep inside… is hurting just as much as I am."

The voice I heard next was so different that I had to open my eyes to believe it was still him.

"Yeah," he said, his voice cracking. "I told you the Gallagher Academy doesn't admit fools."

He glanced at me quickly then looked away.

I got up, the floor cold on my bare toes, and walked to the sofa he sat on.

Oh.

My.

Gosh.

Was it even possible for Zach to be hotter than he was before?

"You can tell me about it you know," I said, my voice barely audible I didn't expect it to carry to him.

But he was a Blackthorne Boy. And he always heard.

"My dad was a great guy, who died doing what he loved. There isn't much else to it," Zach whispered. "I never knew my mom."

Maybe it was teen hormones staunchly supporting mood swings, but right there, I started crying. I was stupid, because he was the guy who didn't have a single parent left, and whose cover legend was stripped away by a girl he wasn't yet sure he could trust.

"Look," I said, trying to stop the tears that were disobediently running down my face. The girl part of me was thankful that all my makeup was waterproof. The spy part of me was feeling helpless because I wanted to say something that would ease the pain I saw on Zach's face, but instead I was crying for reasons I couldn't even begin to identify. "I'm sorry about your parents."

Before I realized it, I was in Zach's arms, soaking his tuxedo in my hot tears. I was crying for my dad's death, his parents' death, and I thought about how the world wasn't fair. To get justice and peace, and to uphold the country's laws…. Somebody had to pay. And I realized that we were the ones who were.

For one of the very few times in my whole life, I lost track of time. I don't know how long I cried into his shoulder, getting his tears mixed up in mine, and when he started rubbing my back comfortingly. I didn't want to realize that no matter how hard I wanted my dad to be alive, it would never be. The world's toughest curriculum couldn't teach how to turn back the hands of time.

When my hiccups finally stopped, and my eyes had stopped producing tears, I reached out a hand and wiped a tear that had traced itself down Zach's cheek. His eyelashes were wet and dark.

"I made you cry," I said.

He gave me a half-smile. "Don't tell anyone."

"Life isn't fair, Zach. It's not, isn't it?"

He shook his head. "It's never fair Cammie."

I sat up quickly. "How long has it been?"

"An hour and a half."

I fell back into his arms. "Oh."

"Promise me you don't like Yale."

"Zach," I said, meeting his eyes, letting him feel my pulse. "I don't like Yale. And I don't like Josh. You promised me I'd get over him."

"And you did," he said as if I'd answered a CoveOps question correctly. "And Ms. Morgan, how in the world did you manage that?"

I laughed. "I didn't manage it. I was forced by another operative to."

"In what ways, Ms. Morgan?" he said in a perfect imitation of Mr. Solomon.

"By being hotter than anyone in this world has the right to be, and being smarter, and sweeter, and cuter, and by flirting with me in very effective ways."

Zach's cocky grin came back on his face, and I realized that he really did have the best legend. The best ones were built off a strand of pure truth. Maybe cocky was still part of the real Zach, just as much as his pain was. "Oh, so The Operatives have finally cleared the suspiciousness of the The Subject?"

"What?" I said, completely appalled and in shock. "How do you know about that?"

He smiled and pointed to himself. "Spy."

For the second time that night I lost track of time again because Zach was kissing me, and kissing me again, and kissing me again. We went so long I had to catch my breath when we stopped. Zach's breathing was ragged.

"We should go back," I said finally. "They'll be looking for us."

I sat up suddenly. "Oh my gosh! I was on comms!" I shrieked.

"Relax," Zach smiled. He held my tiny comms unit in his hand. "You didn't think I'd let others know about my legend, would you?"

"How did—" I started to say, then shook my head. "I've got a lot to learn."

"Not really." Zach stood. "You were distracted, so I took it and disabled it. I _am_ very distracting."

I shook my head again. Was there no end to my being embarrassed by incredibly wonderful guys?

**Reviews are greatly appreciated!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi, everyone! Please remember that this is relatively AU, with a couple references. Blackthorne, Zach's past, and other things are included in what doesn't fit in with the newer installments in the series right now.**

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><p>I crashed on our suite's lounger, and stared at Bex and Macey.<p>

"You're not serious!" Bex squealed.

"Yeah," I said, trying to keep a smile from showing itself on my lips. "That's what happened."

Macey smiled. "So, you're trying to tell us that you and Zach were gone for 1 hour, 48 minutes, and 7 seconds, and that's all that happened."

For once, I was thankful for all the effective lying classes Mr. Solomon had dedicated during CoveOps last year. Did I want to tell Bex and Macey about the talk I had with Zach? Maybe a little. But I wouldn't do it. The way he looked in that dimly lit room: empty, sad and so, completely honest was something I'd be keeping to myself.

"Yeah. You know, we talked a lot. Classes…." I trailed. I was telling my best friends the abridged version of the real thing. "And then before I knew it," (here I added some truth) "I was in his arms, and he was kissing me."

It sounded true enough.

Bex sighed. "That's so romantic."

"Speaking of which," I added, "did you snag a guy during the party, Bex?"

She looked pointedly at Macey. "I would have if it weren't for _her_."

"Oh, honest?" Macey cried, dabbing lotion on her long legs. "She was talking to some guy, and I was trying to get her attention through comms, but she wasn't answering." Macey rolled her eyes. "What was I supposed to do? I went over to her."

"Yeah," Bex said, "and the guy who I had _totally_ snagged stared at her like she was supermodel descent, and didn't say a word to me again!"

"Not my fault," Macey shrugged. "And I _am_ supermodel descent. My aunt was America's Top Model two years ago. My mom worked in the modeling business for 8 years….. I descend from Marilyn Monroe, she was my great, great-aunt…." Macey continued, obviously to exasperate Bex all the more.

"Jason winked at you." I finally broke in.

Bex focused on me. "Oh, him?"

"Yeah. Isn't he cute?"

Bex threw me a pair of Gucci shades. "He's a dork."

I stared at the sunglasses. "What are these for?"

"CoveOps pocket litter. Liz gave it to me before we left. It's your birthday in a couple days, right?"

"Yeah," I said, trying to keep track of the three-topic conversation we were having. "What do you mean, he's a dork? Is this a birthday present, then? Actually, my birthday is next week."

"Yeah, I think I was supposed to wrap it or put a bow on it or something…. But it's your present. From Liz." Bex rubbed her head. "He's a dork."

Macey tossed Bex aspirin. "Jason's dumb. How are we supposed to explain that?"

"Dumb…." I faltered. In this type of life, there were a lot of types of dumb. "In what way?"

"He doesn't know how to act," Macey replied matter-of-factly. "He's been winking at Bex all week. Freaking eye seizures every hour."

"He's pathetic," Bex said from the other side of the room, after downing a glass of water. She wouldn't meet my eyes.

I eyed her. Something was up, and I chose my words carefully. "Like, Preston type of dork?"

Macey made a little sound of protest from her corner of the room, but Bex flashed me a smile. "Yeah, it's a love-hate thing, you know?"

If you think your friends are difficult to understand, you have clearly not met mine! "So, it means you like him?"

"He's a walking irony scandal," Bex said, as regularly as if she were saying he had blond hair.

"Annoyingly hot? Stupidly smart? Disgustingly good-looking?" I asked.

"Exactly."

"Preston's gotten better," Macey said sulkily.

I laughed. "Macey, you were the one who sat with me for hours coming up with ways to kill him with your bare hands."

"No, we also discussed different strangling methods using his tie."

I love my friends.

As I opened my mouth to say something, Bex yelled.

"Lights out!"

Before I registered the fact that our room was now pitch-dark, a pillow flew at me, suspiciously from Bex's corner of the suite.

"Hey," I cried in false outrage. I threw my own pillow missile.

So before we all fell asleep, we had a big pillow fight in the dark. All covert options included. Which of course included infra-red glasses and explosive side sleepers.

There are reasons why I chose to follow my parents in covert operations. Pillow fights among operatives score high on the list.

I slept in because it was Saturday.

So I missed the little intro of my embarrassment, but Macey filled me in anyway.

Zach had knocked on our suite door at 10:00, wanting to take me out to a movie. (I know right? I missed the part where we actually decided to start going out. But, then again, given all we've been through, it was probably pretty obvious.)

Bex, being the good host she was, graciously invited him in. _This is while I am happily snoozing into my pillow. _

To top it off, she decided to wake me by using Liz's self-made alarm clock. Now, if it was a regular alarm clock, that wouldn't have been so bad. Problem Number One: Liz is one of the deepest sleepers, so it would take more than a beep to wake her. Problem Number Two: this alarm clock was equipped with firecrackers and sirens. Problem Number Three: Bex woke me up with it!

Bam! Boom! The firecrackers went. WangaWingaWanga! Sirens spun and glared with strobe lights.

I practically flew out of my bed, my hair (crazy from last night's pillow fight) partly standing up as if I had been electrocuted. (By the way, this detailed description is courtesy of Macey McHenry.) I had apparently screeched, "Ayaaaaa!" in a partly Portuguese accent, which Bex tells me is because I was muttering in said language moments before she woke me. My arms had allegedly flown upwards in the most unbecoming fashion, and I sat straight up in my bed aghast.

Embarrassing?

Freaking. Yes.

From here, I can tell things as I saw them, because I was very much awake. The sirens continued wailing and spinning red and blue strobe beams around the room. The room was hazy because of the firecracker smoke. Me, not having the faintest idea of the reason why this was happening! I struggled out of bed and shook Macey, who was silently shaking in extreme laughter.

"What happened?" I took in the sights of Bex, who had collapsed on her own bed shrieking in laughter; Macey who had given in to her own uncontrollable laughing and was now appeared to be convulsing, and to my utter shock, Zach, who was leaning against the wall, his hands grasping his chest as if his giggles were slowly killing him. Given their appearance, I should've been laughing myself, but as I may have stated before, my IQ is not that low.

Things were starting to make sense. I stormed to the alarm and shut off the sirens.

"Oh my gosh!" I shrieked, exasperated. "_Why_ did you do that?"

Bex, gasping between peals of laughter, pointed at me (it didn't help) and said, "We—ahahhhah, were only - trying to wake you up." She collapsed back on her bed and laughed even harder than before. "Sorryyy!" she screamed in between her laughing.

"Zach!" I turned on him. "What are you doing here?"

He motioned for me to give him a second. I didn't. I kicked his shin (which is my favourite spot to kick!).

"Ouch, Gallagher Girl," he said and rubbed his leg.

"_Zach._" I said, my patience waning. After all, who wants to get woken up like that?

He held up his hands. "It was all Bex. I was just dropping by to see if you wanted to see a movie with me." He tucked some of my hair under my ear. "It _is _funny, Cammie."

The anger inside of me started to subside, just a little.

Macey, (who had recovered miraculously from her convulsing laughter as soon as she saw I was pretty upset), crossed her legs and said, "Do you want to go, Cammie?"

I pursed my lips together. "Okay," I said finally. "Can you wait?"

Zach nodded. "No probs."

"Cam." Bex stood up from her bed. "I'm sorry! Honestly, I am. I didn't know that Liz's alarm clocks were that extreme. The one she uses is only equipped with the sirens. I didn't know a thing about the firecrackers."

I eyed her suspiciously.

"Sorry, please?"

I sighed. It was hard to stay mad at friends as good as Bex and Macey. "Okay."

Bex beamed.

As I turned to my dresser, I caught my reflection and groaned.

Zach grinned at me. "How long is it going to take to get you looking like last night, Gallagher Girl?"

I was about to turn to say something snappy to him, but Bex cut me off.

"You forget, Zach, that Cammie is a Gallagher Girl. The name you call her means much more."

"And," Macey put in from where she was busy doing her makeup, "given excessive talent, Cammie will be ready for you in 5 minutes. Flat."

Wow? Was that a dare? I could not believe Macey had just told Zach that. No way was I going to be ready in five minutes! Half an hour, maybe. Gallagher Academy doesn't teach how to do your makeup and clothes in five minutes…. At least, if you don't count the Disguises course.

"Now," Bex said, ushering Zach out the door. "Get out and start counting."

When the door was closed, I rushed to Macey. "What were you thinking?"

She turned to me and threw clothes into my arms. "Get in the shower and put those on afterwards."

As I dashed to our bathroom, Bex called, "One minute, Cammie."

One minute to shower?

I dashed out in the outfit Macey had chosen, which of course was dazzlingly perfect: casual jeans, fashionable top, and a cardigan.

Macey was already waiting to do my makeup. Her hands flew, and Bex handed her piece by piece what she needed. It had only been 4 minutes and 34 seconds when Macey stepped back and declared me ready.

I smiled. Spying was dangerous; but who cares if you have friends like this?

When I stepped out of the door, I found Zach with his back against the wall as if he were trying to hide.

"Zach—" I managed to say before he snagged my arm and held me back. His hand clamped on my mouth.

I was about to utilize one of Mr. Solomon's very effective anti-mugging moves when I heard voices in the room against the wall. (Oh my gosh! Eavesdropping on teachers is so much fun!) I listened carefully.

"Well, she's in our hands," a gruff voice of a man said. "They might very well go after her."

"If we use her as bait…" a younger man's voice said.

"That would be too dangerous."

"Our security is top-level. Nothing can get past it."

"You were the one who's famous for saying it; what was it again?"

"The bad guys only have to get lucky once."

At this I stiffened and suddenly realized who the younger man was. Mr. Solomon. He had told us that very same thing when Macey was under Secret Service surveillance. I pressed my ear to the wall. Clearly Mr. Solomon and his friend were moving away from it, because their voices became more muffled.

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><p><strong>Reviews are greatly appreciated!<strong>


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